Brian Urlacher

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Is Urlacher more hype than hits?

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Dennis Dillon / 

Posted: 1 day ago 

 

 

 

 

Brian Urlacher is the most overrated player in the NFL.

 

After you've stopped choking on your morning muffin, consider the impact of those words. How can anyone hang that label on a player who has been voted to the Pro Bowl in each of his first four seasons? If you don't want to take our word for it, perhaps the experts will sway you.

 

Photo gallery ...

NFL's most overrated

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Sporting News polled eight NFL scouts (one from each division) and two TV analysts, and asked them to select an entire team of overrated players. Urlacher received five votes at linebacker and three first-place votes as the most overrated player overall. There was no ballot for the vote, so it was striking that three singled out Urlacher.

 

 

"They don't know what the crap they're talking about," says Lovie Smith, the Bears' first-year coach. "He's one of the best players in the National Football League. I thought that before I got here; I'm totally convinced of it now that I am here. I'll challenge anybody who says anything different."

 

 

This raised skepticism on our part, too, so we solicited opinions from a dozen more NFL scouts. Among that group, four agree the Bears' middle linebacker is overrated, and five say he isn't.

 

 

Brian Urlacher is laying the hurt here, but still has too big of a reputation. (Jeff Roberson / AP)

 

Of the remaining three, one says his staff would have regarded Urlacher as overrated before watching tape of his outstanding performance in Week 13 against the Vikings; one says he is a good player, "but I don't think he's among the elite," and the third straddles the fence, adding, "I remember Urlacher making plays where I said, 'Holy smoke!' "

 

 

No one is denying Urlacher is one of the best linebackers in the league. "Let me put it this way," says one AFC scout. "If he were available, I would want him on my team as our middle linebacker." But if overrated refers to a player whose hype overshadows his performance or whose reputation is greater than the reality of his play, Urlacher fits the description, according to several scouts.

 

 

These are the reasons some think Urlacher is overrated:

 

 

 

He needs to be shielded by defensive tackles who can keep offensive linemen off him. In 2001, Urlacher's second season, wide bodies Ted Washington and Keith Traylor were the defensive tackles. The Bears went 13-3, made their only playoff appearance since 1994 and Urlacher was "all-world," according to one scout.

 

But when he gets engulfed by bigger offensive linemen who impede his path, Urlacher struggles to make plays. "He's definitely not the same player he was when he had the fat guys in front of him," says one scout.

 

 

 

He takes himself out of too many plays. On running plays, Urlacher has trouble stacking and shedding offensive linemen, so he often tries to go around the blocks. That creates a hole for the runner, who waits for Urlacher to commit himself and then goes the other way.

 

 

Urlacher should make more plays for the money he's being paid (a nine-year, $54 million package with a $14 million bonus). Last year, he wasn't involved in a single turnover -- a shocking statistic for someone who is supposed to be his team's best defensive player. He has one interception and two forced fumbles in nine games this season.

 

 

You hear some scouts say one of the strengths of Ravens inside linebacker Ray Lewis is he makes the other 10 players on defense better. You don't hear that about Urlacher.

In Urlacher's first four seasons, the Bears finished among the league's top 10 teams in the three defensive categories (overall, run, pass) just once. In the same period, the Ravens finished in the top 10 nine times in those categories.

 

 

 

A fan watching the highlights on SportsCenter will see Urlacher make a spectacular play or two and go, "Wow!" A scout who studies an entire tape of the same game will see the linebacker commit several mistakes and go, "Hmmm."

 

The mistake-prone Brian Urlacher is a favorite of the sports highlight shows. (Jeff Roberson / AP)

 

 

"I've heard those things they said about how he needs big tackles in front of him and he can't get off blocks," says Smith. "Whoever would make that statement does not know Brian Urlacher. The guy knows how to get off blocks as well as anyone."

 

 

Under Smith, the Bears have changed their defense. They have switched from a two-gap, read-and-react scheme to a one-gap, penetrating style. The defensive linemen are lighter and quicker. Instead of moving along the line of scrimmage laterally, trying to occupy offensive linemen, their priority is to rush upfield. It is a linebacker-friendly defense because in addition to making tackles, all of the linebackers have opportunities to make big plays by blitzing or dropping into coverage.

 

 

Urlacher has excelled in this defense, weakening the argument that he needs massive bodyguards in front of him. Despite missing two games early in the season with a hamstring injury and two more games in late November because of a calf injury that required emergency surgery, he is putting up impressive numbers. In addition to the interception and two forced fumbles, he has six passes defensed, five sacks, four quarterback pressures and eight tackles for loss. Unofficially, he has 45 tackles and 40 assists.

 

Those might be his final stats, too; a hamstring injury late in last Sunday's loss to Jacksonnville might end Urlacher's season.

 

 

One NFC scout who has studied Urlacher this season says: "I think he's still willing to throw his body around. He's still quick with his read-and-react. My only problem with him was I thought maybe he was losing some speed. I don't know if injuries are starting to break him down a little bit and hurting his range to make plays. At this point, I still think he's a heck of a football player."

 

 

Evaluating football talent certainly is a subjective business, and scouts tend to have long memories. Some who say Urlacher is overrated might be discounting what he has done this season. "We played against him last year, and I thought he was very timid," says one scout. "He's not a head-on collision linebacker; he's a side tackler." (Bears Hall of Fame linebacker Dick Butkus has criticized Urlacher for not punishing ballcarriers enough.)

 

 

But three of the scouts who say Urlacher is overrated are from teams that played the Bears this season. "He hurts them as much as he helps them," says one. "You want to avoid him, yet you want to pick on him, too. If you run play-action, you can get him out of position in coverage."

 

 

Part of the perception about Urlacher might be colored by the hype surrounding him. He came into the NFL as the ninth overall draft pick, a versatile, playmaking safety in college whose profile was raised immediately when the Bears converted him to linebacker.

 

He made a big splash his rookie season, even drawing comparisons to Butkus, and quickly became one of the most recognizable stars in the league. He plays in a big media market, his jersey has been one of the NFL's top sellers and he has appeared in several television commercials.

 

 

Ad agencies determine Urlacher's worth as a product pitchman, but scouts judge his value as a football player. And on that front, there's a division of opinion.

[DBAHO]

I voted Yay, although I could come up with a lot of overrated players.

[Purdue129]

Even Marriotti threw out some great alternatives in Keyshawn and Sapp. He might not have the huge numbers the media wants him to, but Urlacher still makes a difference in the Bears D by just being on the field.

[NUKE_CLEVELAND]

Do they hype him too much? Yes.

 

Is he the most overrated player in football? No.

[WHarris1]

How the f*** is Urlacher overrated at all?

He is one of the few players in the NFL where the other teams gameplans around him. They are always thinking about where he is on the football field.

 

Not a chance in hell he is overrated.

[CWSGuy406]

Have the Bears won a single game playing WITHOUT Urlacher this season?

 

I think the answer to that question tells it all...

[danman31]

Urlacher is overrated but he isn't the most overrated player in the league.